


Glances

by squidgie



Category: Sports Night
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-11
Updated: 2010-10-11
Packaged: 2017-10-12 15:20:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/126310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squidgie/pseuds/squidgie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>  First off, this is a story in honor of National Coming Out Day, which is October 11<sup>th</sup>.  Many kudos to <a href="http://elderwitty.livejournal.com/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://elderwitty.livejournal.com/"><strong>elderwitty</strong></a>  for beta'ing this for me, for the bouncing of ideas, and the wordsmithing.  She is <strong>fabulous</strong>.  Don't own the characters - it's all Sorkin.  But hell, I'd love to see this storyline on television!  Feedback strongly desired!</p>
    </blockquote>





	Glances

**Author's Note:**

>   First off, this is a story in honor of National Coming Out Day, which is October 11th.  Many kudos to [](http://elderwitty.livejournal.com/profile)[**elderwitty**](http://elderwitty.livejournal.com/)  for beta'ing this for me, for the bouncing of ideas, and the wordsmithing.  She is **fabulous**.  Don't own the characters - it's all Sorkin.  But hell, I'd love to see this storyline on television!  Feedback strongly desired!

September 20th

“That’s our show.  Thank you for joining us.”  Casey angles toward Dan, “For Dan Rydell, I’m Casey McCall.  You’ve been watching _Sports Night_ on CSC. Have a good night!”

“G'night, Mom!” Dan adds, a bit more chipper than usual.

“And we’re out,” the pair hears from the control room. Their Teleprompters go black and theme music begins playing in the background.

“Good show, everybody!” Kim calls out and is met with a resounding response of “Good show!” from all sides.

“Anthony's?” a voice suggests from the booth.  Could be Jeremy.  Could be Dana.

The boys fidget while being untangled from their electrical equipment.  Dan shoots a quick look to Casey, who is trying to remain nonchalant.  “Not me,” he offers weakly as he uproots his earpiece.  “Think I’m gonna go-” He stops short.  Just two faces catch his hesitation, reading into it what Casey was trying desperately to conceal.  “Gonna get out of here,” Casey finally finishes.

Dan throws a quick look at his partner, a slight smile upturning the edges of his mouth, nose crinkling in the way he knows drives his new lover just a bit mad with desire.

Natalie is the only other person able to read the situation.  She sees the body language between the two men and hikes an eyebrow northward.  “Something,” she says to the rapidly emptying control room, “is up.”  She studies Dan and Casey as they leave the studio.

 

September 24th

The after-air ritual begins as it does every evening.  As with every other night, choruses of “Good show!” ring through the studio.  And, as on many recent occasions, Casey begs off going to Anthony's.  It isn't every night that he excuses himself from the post-show festivities.  But every night that _he_ does, Dan does as well.

“Will you _please_ come on!” Dana begs Natalie, who's still rooted to her chair.  “Let’s go!”

“I’ll be there in a minute.” Natalie promises inattentively, studying the talent in her monitor as they fish the various lines of technology from their persons. 

Natalie watches as Dan declares, “I’m going to get out of here."  She sees him turn to Casey, his eyes full and round with a mischievous spark.

“Yeah, me too,” Casey throws back.

And Natalie’s eyes squinch to beady slits as she watches the men exit the studio.  Together.

 

September 27th

Jeremy isn’t sure _what's_ come over his girlfriend as of late, but then he rarely wants to know what is _really_ going on in her head.  He tends to let go of expectations towards the end of the show and just watch as she studies some mysterious, but apparently fascinating thing in her monitors.  Tonight, when half the crew, including Dan and Casey, decides not to go to Anthony's, he knows what he's in for.  First will be half an hour of intense scrutiny by Natalie.  Then, for some reason, they will engage in an unreasonable amount of flirting in front of their coworkers.  Later on, at home, it will end in an intense kind of passion that drains them both to their core.  He knows one of Natalie’s biggest erogenous zones is her brain, but sometimes he wishes he could figure out just what's going on in there.

Around 1AM, it’s just Dana, Jeremy, Kim, and Natalie left at the bar. 

“What do you guys think about porn?” she lets loose upon the group, as if talking of nothing more unusual than the weather.

“Porn?”  Jeremy sputters into his drink.  Kim looks up eagerly - obviously intrigued.  Dana looks on with a combination of interest and contempt (possibly with some untended chigger bite irritation thrown in for good measure).

Knowing just how uncomfortable it will make Jeremy, Kim smiles seedily, “What kind of porn?”

“Well, you know,” Natalie adds, playing with her phone.  “Boy porn.”

Jeremy hitches an eyebrow skyward, not sure where the conversation is headed.

“Gay porn.”  Natalie picks up her phone and starts scrolling through the names in her address book.

 

September 30th

Dan and Casey avoid yet another drinkfest with their coworkers, citing exhaustion.  Honestly, it _had_ been a tough week for the pair, what with the impending starts of the hockey and basketball seasons, and the baseball playoffs.  Oh, and of course, the ‘sneaking around’ with Danny (as he calls it, though lightheartedly, not critical at all) and self-censoring that Casey finds himself doing in the office, now that he and Dan are an item.  Casey feels weird lying to his coworkers.  That's why he never says he’s heading home anymore.  He always manages to say he’s ‘getting out of here’ instead.  Because for the last few weeks, Casey has been spending his nights at Dan’s apartment.

That's where he is at the moment - Dan's apartment.  Specifically, Danny's bed.  With Danny.  They’re coiled together, glistening with sweat caused mostly by exertion, helped along by a last-gasp of blasting summer heat that’s enveloping New York.

"Fuck..." he gasps, spent, laying his head on Dan's stomach.

"Um, Case?" Dan impishly splays fingers in the matted fur that covers Casey's chest.  "I think we just did that."

"You don't have to tell me...  _I'm_ the one that can't walk," slumping even more bonelessly.

Dan lifts slightly and stares down at Casey's head.  "Can't walk?"

"Nope.  Can't walk."  Casey raises his head and meets Dan's eyes.  "Well.  I mean, I guess I _could_ walk.  Just don't want to."  With that, he lays his head back down on his partner.

"It's your own fault, you know," Dan opines, causing Casey's head to rocket back up.

Casey looks at Dan critically.  "My fault?"

"Yes, Case.  Your fault."  Dan throws one arm behind his head and leans into it, allowing his other to slowly trail gentle touches down Casey's back.  "You're _very_ bendy."

"Years of gymnastics, my friend," Casey shoots back, before leaning into Dan to claim a kiss.  "And it's called being limber.  Not bendy."

"Oh, I like bendy," Dan protests suggestively.  He leans up to steal a kiss himself while Casey starts rearranging his body above Dan.  The pair carries on kissing, making out slowly and deliberately while Casey maneuvers his long legs.  He anchors his knees between Dan's thighs and insinuates his hands beneath Dan's knees.

Pulling them up while his cock slowly throbs back to life and jabs at Dan's own, Casey can't resist commenting, "Looks like you're pretty bendy yourself."  He pulls Dan's legs to rest on his shoulders, then leans in, pinning the younger man with his weight.  While kissing Dan continually, Casey begins tantalizingly rubbing his cock against Dan’s ass, making him push back greedily.  Casey tilts back gently, using a hand to guide himself closer.  Putting the tip just at Dan's hole, he bends down to steal one last kiss before declaring, "My turn..."

   
   
    
  

October 1st

Natalie perches on Jeremy's desk, watching the bank of elevators as the _Sports Night_ crew begins to file in for the day.  That morning Jeremy had begged her to sleep in, citing his need for extra sleep after a night of incredible sex, but Natalie had insisted on coming in early.  Jeremy quietly composes a letter to his sister as Natalie passively takes in the office.  That ends when Dan and Casey enter the bullpen.

There are little things Casey and Dan share that normal people wouldn't notice.  But Natalie does.  Like the light touch Dan lays on Casey as he guides the taller man into the bullpen.  Or the hand that Casey puts on Dan's shoulder when the pair stops by Kim's desk to get tape from last night’s late finishing games.  Or the fact that Dan is limping, ever so slightly.

Natalie swats Jeremy in the arm to grab his attention.  "Is Dan limping?" she demands, finger pointing and eyes peering as Dan and Casey amble into their office.

"Limping?" Jeremy asks, pulled back to Natalie's obsessive-observations about the _Sports Night_ talent - a new fixation in the last few weeks.  He turns just as Dan and Casey enter their office, watching as they each drop their briefcase on the same desk and sit on their sofa.  Close.  _Really_ close to each other.  Jeremy pinches the bridge of his nose, pushing his glasses up in the process.  "That's kinda..." he was going to say ‘odd’, but quickly realizes that Natalie, his audience, is already off his desk and aiming straight for Dan and Casey's office.  He jogs to catch up, entering just as she does.

"I'm telling you, this weekend we should-" Casey stops, then breaks Dan's rapt attention with a tap to his knee.  "Hey, Natalie.  Hey, Jeremy."  He's slightly disconcerted by the head-cocked once over that Natalie is giving them.  It’s the same look she's been aiming at them for a couple of weeks, and it's growing increasingly unnerving.

Dan joins the conversation.  "Hey, Jeremy.  I wanted to see what you thought about-"

Natalie cuts him off, "Why are you limping?"  Her eyes close to slits as she studies him.

"Limping?"  Dan laughs easily, though he tosses a nanosecond of disconcerted look Casey's way.  "I didn't realize I was."  He leans back into the couch, hands at his knees, to give himself time to find an explanation that doesn't out his sex life.  "Maybe I pulled something when Casey and I played racquetball last weekend."   

The last statement only garners him another gimlet-eyed look.  "You two _didn't play_ racquetball last weekend," she states.  With that, she turns on her heel and stalks out.  Jeremy stares, first at Dan and Casey, then back in the direction of Natalie's disappearance.  Finally, after trading confused looks with them, he shrugs and heads back to his desk.

 

October 7th

Though the _Sports Night_ team stakes out its own area at Anthony's after the show, Natalie quickly pulls Kim and Dana aside.  She makes Jack clear a table for them within visual distance but out of earshot of the rest of the team.  "I think the boys are having sex," she blurts.

Kim spits a mouthful of martini, showering Dana's purse.  Dana misses the rung on the barstool and narrowly avoids bashing her chin on the tabletop.  " _WHAT?!_ " she asks, dropping her purse, completely missing the table in her distracted state.  "SHIT!"

Natalie starts nodding exuberantly to accentuate her point.  "They are.  I just _know_ they are."  

"Really?" Kim purrs, then leans around Dana to ogle the pair.  "That's _hot_."

Dana turns to Kim, full of outrage.  " _Hot_ ‽  That is _so not hot_.  That is the exact _opposite_ of hot," which only garners matching eyerolls from her companions.

 

October 11th

Natalie reaches the CSC studios early, unwilling to wait on Jeremy and his desperate need for more than three hours sleep.  Coffee brewed and brown sugar/cinnamon Pop-Tarts cooling, she makes her way to Dan and Casey's office, plops down on the sofa and spreads out, working while she waits for them to make their appearance.

A few minutes before noon, she hears the boys in the bullpen.  She slots her papers back into their folder, and then sits back to greet the pair.  Casey enters first, stopping short at the sight of Natalie smugly perched on the sofa.  Momentarily distracted by Casey’s ass _in those jeans_ (also why they’re running late this morning), Dan runs face-first into Casey's shoulder, earning a plaintive, "Oww," from Casey.

Dan brushes a light kiss over the spot, asking, “What’s the matter, Case?  Did my nose break your shoulder blade?” then locks eyes with Natalie.  "Morning, Nat!"  He wonders how much she saw, but can’t bring himself to care all that much.

"Good morning, boys," she coos.  "Have a good weekend?"  

Dan throws an arm over Casey’s shoulders, looking up into his eyes.  "Yep," he says, sighing contentedly and giving Casey a light squeeze.  "Yes, we did."  He releases Casey, patting him on the arm before crossing to deposit his briefcase on the desk.

" _Good!_ " Natalie declares easily, getting up.  "Rundown's in five."  And with that, she marches confidently from the room.

The rundown meeting goes off without a hitch; Dana hits all the major points she wants covered from the big games over the weekend and outlining the group's goals for the week.  "Okay - now, is there anything else?" she asks the group already starting to get up and go about their assignments for the day.

"I have a question," Natalie asserts.  She takes a moment to look around the room, examining each person briefly.  "Does anyone," she asks, focusing on Dan and Casey, "know what today is?"

Puzzled looks greet her question.  After a beat, people start calling out things.

"Jason Arnott's birthday?"

"The anniversary of Apollo Seven?"

"Eddie Dyer's birthday?"

When the stream of guesses slows, Jeremy throws out, "Umm, Revolution Day in Macedonia?" which has Dana rolling her eyes while still marveling at the arcane information that Jeremy always seems to have at his fingertips.

Each answer offered elicits a headshake by Natalie.  She looks first at Dan, then Casey, and then finally back to Dan.

"I know what today is," Dan declares with a nearly unnoticeable quaver in his voice.

"You _do_ , Dan?" Natalie responds sweetly.  "Would you like to share with the class?"

"Yes," Dan replies, then turns to focus on Casey as he stands to address the room.  Casey beams up at his partner and raises a hand to the small of Dan's back, as if to anchor him – to offer him his own strength for what they were about to share with their coworkers.  Their friends.  "Today..." Dan begins, and then reaches for the hand at his back.  He slowly entwines the fingers with his own and feels a squeeze in return, "Today is National Coming Out Day." Dan draws their entangled hands around to the front, and watches as every face but Natalie’s dawns with sudden comprehension.  The cheers and laughter (and at least one sum of money changing hands with a cry of ‘I told you!’) make both men smile as the weight of a vague worry lifts from their shoulders.

Meeting (and Declaration of Orientation) over, Dan and Casey entertain a stream of well wishes from their friends, and a new, almost constant leer from Kim, until Dana has to yell at everyone to get back to their _real_ jobs.  The rest of the day having passed in a blur, it is now ten minutes to air and the boys stand in their office.  Once again, they are pants-less, gazing out the window out into the ocean of possibilities that New York at night holds.  This time, they stand hand in hand - together.

The clearing of a throat catches their attention.  When they turn, Kim is trying out yet another leer while gesturing for them to follow.  "No pants tonight, boys," she declares to the pair, as well as the room.  Kim throws a look at Dan over her shoulder.  "You, of _all_ people, Danny, should have known better than to hide something _this big_ from _Natalie_." 

The pair chuckle and trail her obediently to the set, where makeup and wardrobe people immediately surround them.  Their pants, however, are still nowhere to be seen.  They make small talk with the control room, looser and less tense than they’d been for the last few weeks.  "Hey, Natalie?"

"Yes, Dan?" Natalie coos back through his earpiece, prompting Jeremy to lean around Dana to watch his girlfriend.  Meanwhile, someone in the control room starts ticking down the seconds until the show starts.

 _Ten... Nine...Eight_

"Are we getting our pants at the first C break?"

 _Six... Five...Four...Three_

"Good show, boys," is all the response he gets.

  


 


End file.
